Steel and Ashes
by dfinkel70
Summary: A doomed revolution, a working class on the run, and a girl who saw it all happen before her own eyes. To her it felt as if the world buried her in ash, suffocating and derailing her sanity, but in the end (with the help of tech) maybe, just maybe she can rise from those ashes.
1. Chapter 1

**Community workers office-outskirts of Atlas**

"So, has everyone arrived?" My comrade over the radio asks.

"Affirmative all names have been checked off".

"Excellent comrade, how is it out there?"

"Bloody cold as usual".

"Well someone had to do parking lot duty and you drew the shortest straw".

"Don't remind me", truth be told I prefer it out here more than anything. I honestly don't think I would last long in that stuffy security room, staring at monitors all day, waiting for the jump-.

"Hey Katyusha-". Suddenly my comrade radio's in unannounced causing me to fall out of my chair. "Oh shit are you alright".

"Monty christ Joseph" I grunted getting back up. "Why did you just radioed in unannounced like that, that's not like you".

"Yeah, well I wanted to ask you something a bit personal".

"Go on".

"Well...do you think there's finally going to be some changes after tonight".

"That ultimately boils down on whether or not our leaders can settle on a proper way to send a message to the council, and not in a way that involves the death of innocents". Monty knows that never works.

"I had heard that their coming extremely close to settling on a decision though".

"True, personally I would like nothing more than to bring down the monopoly that is the SDC".

"We all do katyusha, but personally I'd save that goal for down the line".

"(Sign) I know".

When people ever bring up races in Atlas being mistreated, subjugated, etc. Chances are faunas immediately come to mind, and if you were referring to the mining of dust than yes, but people always tend to forget that someone had to build the ivory towers and mansions the Schnee family live so comfortably in. long ago the Schnee family was rapidly picking up speed as the largest producer of dust in Remnant, and the Schnee family wanted to express that huge profit very...boldly. Buying out any stretch of land they could get there hands on, even if it meant getting rid of a few local business here and there. There was however one small problem, well aside from the family livelihoods they destroyed, and that was the fact that the head of the family refused to hire any faunas to handle building construction saying that the concepts of geometry and the sophistication of the equipment was far too advanced for their "primitive" minds. So he did the next best thing, hire a bunch of migrant workers from Vacuo and Mistral. Sigh, It wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't for the fact that they treated us like they treated their miners, with little to no regard for working conditions, safety, and payment. I guess to the Schnee's we were no more than one-half step above faunas.

We've tried to make our voices heard through strikes and protests but the company made sure to silence any "ripples in the ocean". Whether that be by relocating us to another division, deporting us, or in the worst case scenario "accidental" death. It's not that surprising really. It's no secret that the SDC mistreats its faunas "employees". Even back then to an extent, but if word got out that human employees were being mistreated almost to the same degree as their miners, well let's just say the media coverage outside of Atlas wouldn't have a positive view of the SDC for a good long while.

That was before my time, but my people haven't forgotten.

an: I cant believe I forgot to upload this, yes this is my next fanfic in the rwby universe and this one will be a bit longer than the last, or at least I hope. anyway let me know if there's grammar mistakes I missed and hope to see you all next time

 **Let me know what you think in the reviews**


	2. Chapter 2

**Apologies for the long wait, a lot school related things got in the way. Regardless without further-a-due I hope you enjoy this latest installment.**

"Comrade Katyusha you still there".

"Where else would I be?" I said sarcastically.

"You said everyone arrived right?"

"Yeah as I said before all the names have been checked out", why?

"Oh nothing I thought I just saw some figure outside, probably one of the organizers going out for a smoke break".

"You sure?"  
"Yeah I guess, I might send someone out to investigate I see anything else suspicious".

"You know I honestly don't see the point of smoke breaks or smoking in general".

"Katyusha the leaders of the community are trying to make a decision that could change Atlas for decades to come, it wouldn't surprise me if someone wanted to do some puffs".

"There's alcohol in the meeting room for Monty's sake, wouldn't that be enough of a stimulant".

"Yeah well...what the hell?"

"Huh, what is it?" He better not be messing with me.

"The camera feed in the board meeting room just shut off".

"The camera's in that building aren't really the most up-to-date, it could be because one of them faltered".

"Oh shit!"

"Whats going on Joseph, don't keep me out of the dark".

"Katyusha, I'm hearing gunshots!"

"Wait, are you serious?!"

"Yes i'm serious, i'm heading up there now along with the rest of the security team".

"I'll be right there-".

"Negative, by the time you get here we'll have already controlled the situation".

"Oh come on are you really going to cheat out of the action that fast".

"Sorry Katyusha", and thus the radio went silent once again.

It's been about 15 mins, he should be back by now. Then again these situations can result in hostages which obviously you don't want to rush, though if that were the case Atlas police responders would've been down here by now. Even if we're far from the city.

(Sigh) screw this I'm not going to wait out here any longer. Grabbing my gun and a few mags, I started to head to the main building. Upon entering I could already tell that something was off. There was silence, but not the usual type of silence. It was the type that gave you the sense that something was wrong. Heading up the second floor and towards the conference room the silence was even more apparent, not a single peep came out of it. "Okay I'm at the door, just gonna open it slightly and-". Before I could even open a inch I was immediately bombarded by a horrid stench. Similar to that of leaving a bad smelling fruit out in the heat for 6+ hours. Regaining my composure I continued opening the door, albeit a bit quicker and enough to see/enter.

I reeled back in horror over the ungodly sight. "Oh...Monty, oh Monty christ" I put my hand over my mouth. Dead...they were all they dead. Some slouched against the wall, others lying on the ground or sitting in their chairs, heads down. I was then that I heard a familiar voice.

"K-Katyusha…"

"Joseph" I say quietly, "where are you?"

"O-Over here" about halfway into the room lay him, back against the wall, and severely bleeding. Fearing the worst I crouched down and proceeded towards him.

"Joseph what the fuck happened, everyone is dead, I might lose you, oh monty this is bad" I whispered.

"T-They know, y-you got to get out of here"

"Wait what?"

"They knew about our agenda, t-they sent someone to silence us for g-good".

"Who?"

"H-Her". He points to the opposite end of the room. There stood a tall woman clad in red, blue, and white. Too this day I still don't know how I didn't see her when I enter the room at first. It wasn't long before anger consumed me, and before I knew it I was standing up and pointing my gun at her.

"You son of a bitch!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. "You killed all these people, all these men and women with brilliant minds and great ideas for this kingdom, and you took that all away in one fell swoop". The women didn't move nor elicited a verbal response, but instead continue to stare in the opposite direction. Getting more angry I continued, "If you think you can alive or unscathed you gotta another thing coming!"

 **A**


End file.
